Published: 01:37 AM, Thu Feb 09, 2012
Vaughan: Seventy-First football coach Bob Paroli honored by peers
Earl Vaughan Jr.
Seventy-First High School football coach Bob Paroli received a special honor at last week's gathering of the N.C. High School Football Coaches Association in Greensboro.
Paroli was recognized for his contributions to high school football in the state and made a lifetime member of the association.
Also recognized were veteran coaches Tom Brown of Maiden and Sam Story of Burlington Williams.
"It was a great honor to be recognized by the people in your profession,'' Paroli said. "This ranks up there with the hall of fame inductions.''
Paroli is a member of four halls of fame, including the N.C. High School Athletic Association, Fayetteville Sports Club, New York Military Academy and Burlington Cummings High School.
Speaking of the coaches' meeting last week, they discussed two major topics they'd like to get the N.C. High School Athletic Association to change.
The first is the unpopular pod system, which was designed to cut down on extensive travel in the opening rounds of the state football playoffs by matching up schools from the same areas of the state.
It's a good idea in theory, but in recent years it's sent some of the best schools in the state head-to-head in the early rounds and not given them a chance to make a deep run in the playoffs.
The coaches would prefer to see the pod system ended, but it's unlikely that the N.C. High School Athletic Association will be willing to make the change.
Gas costs appear to be continuing to rise and travel expenses are likely to be a bigger issue by the time next fall's playoffs start than they were last year. So, the pod looks like it's staying.
Another area where the coaches want change they're more likely to get it. There was a lot of complaining last season when the state went to an 11 games in 11 weeks schedule for football.
The result was a major headache for schools, many of whom couldn't find that 11th game and had to go with 10.
That hurt the NCHSAA financially because that 11th game is an Endowment game which puts money from gate receipts into the state's Endowment fund. Look for the NCHSAA to be sympathetic on this one and go back to allowing 11 games in 12 weeks.
While we're on the subject of halls of fame, long time Reid Ross High School assistant football coach Sonny Basinger was honored by his hometown of Concord last year with induction into the Cabarrus County Sports Hall of Fame.
Basinger was a 1957 graduate of Concord where he was all-conference in football and basketball as well as all-state in football.
He went on to receive scholarships to Wingate Junior College and East Carolina.
He is a past winner of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine.
Scholastic sports editor Earl Vaughan Jr. can be reached at vaughane@fayobserver.com or 486-3519.